Rats, rescue & FBI
by LianneZ4
Summary: Peter is kidnapped. Neal comes to the rescue. Season 1 AU.


**RATS, RESCUE & FBI**

 **Summary: Peter is kidnapped. Neal comes to the rescue. Season 1 AU.**

 _ **A/N:** Written for pipilj for fandom stocking._

* * *

They had kidnapped Peter. They had _kidnapped_ Peter and the FBI was wasting time on protocol and warrants. No wonder it had taken them years to catch him. Heck, seeing all the hoops they had to jump through, Neal was starting to doubt himself a bit, surprised that they had been able to catch him at all!

 _Stupid bureaucrats,_ Neal thought irritably as he continued to crawl his way through the ventilation system, alternately walking, hopping, running and flapping, whatever the narrow pipe allowed him. He had to be careful not to drop the flashlight in his beak – it was about half the size of his human little finger and essentially useless to him in that shape, but for his owl form, it was perfect.

While the saw-whet owls' night vision was far superior to humans, they still needed some light or they were just as blind and lost as everybody else. Neal loved his other body (useless as it was in most of his pursuits) but getting stuck blind in small spaces like that always sent him into a state of helpless panic, no matter how much his rational human mind told him to stay calm.

Maybe he _should_ have left things to the FBI. Except the government was so damn _inflexible._ If they just employed a few beetle or fly shifters (and didn't wait ages for warrants), Peter would have been freed an hour ago. But the government _was_ inflexible, warrants _did_ take ages and recognized shifters were even now banned from all federal jobs. (Which, as Neal had realized and then promptly forgotten to mention upon signing his work-release documents, _might_ put his deal in a legally shady area since he was no employee but still working for the system. Then again, he was such a good asset, it was in everyone's best interest that his other form remained a secret as long as possible. Don't ask, don't care, was that how Peter put it?)

He wasn't even supposed to be here. When Peter agreed to the anklet deal three months ago, Neal had a very specific idea about how things would go. By now, he and Kate were supposed to be far away in a non-extradition country together – instead here he was, crawling through pipes, getting his feathers all messed up, trying to rescue an FBI agent. _Damn it._

Flapping his wings about six times, Neal passed a good distance but winced as his head repeatedly hit the top of the pipe. His talons scrambled on the pipe and he left several long scratches there as he tried to find his balance again. He'd have bruises tomorrow, no doubt. He just hoped that he could change back soon enough before his animal instincts hit him fully. He still felt vaguely nauseous about that one time when Mozzie had to hide his pet from him because Neal's residual owl instincts insisted that "Archimedes" would make for an absolutely delicious snack. And it was only lucky that the rat fought back, because the bites and scratches were annoying but Neal wasn't sure his friendship with Mozzie would have recovered from an Archimedes stew for dinner…

 _His stomach grumbled. After all this hopping and crawling, it_ screeched _for some baby squirrels. Or a deer mouse. Or even some voles –_

 _Focus,_ he reminded himself. _Think about Peter. You need him and you owe him. Besides–_

There! Neal quickly blinked his eyes as he took a turn and the pipe was suddenly lit with more light. As his eyes adjusted to the increased light, he allowed himself an inner smile. He was almost out.

Listening carefully, he waited until he was sure the room was empty. Then he promptly flew to the ground and shifted back to his human form. He quickly turned off and pocketed the flash-light, then checked in a hand mirror that his eyes were back to their human shape and color and checked his anklet (still there, as he had intended upon shifting).

Even as he thought about Peter and getting past the kidnappers, a part of Neal's brain was already spinning the lie to explain his presence here – a tale of a brilliant con that'd be completely outrageous and entirely _human_. He carefully looked around to be sure that there were no feathers left around, because there were still the mandatory registration lists for shifters, and though it wasn't nearly as unsafe nowadays as just a couple decades ago, he still had no intention to end on one…

Involuntarily, Neal's eyes fell on the window and spotted a pair of pigeons there. And damn it but his stomach grumbled again. If he could have just _one bite_ …

Neal bit down hard on his lip and quickly retracted his suspiciously long nails back to their proper appearance. This was why you never transformed hungry. And usually he would have been more careful, except Peter being taken had shocked and scared him, and now –

Checking once more that everything was in order, Neal took a deep breath and tried to recall the layout of the building. _Time to get Peter back._

 **THE END**


End file.
